Local Resident Launches New Children’s Yoga Classes in Annandale

Brigitta White’s WholeMe! Programs are creating a buzz in Annandale. The registered dance movement therapist and children’s yoga teacher launched her programs in December, which include classes at Annandale Sport & Health Club on Ravensworth Road. White’s programs are designed to support and nurture the social, emotional and movement development of infants and children using yoga and the expressive arts. Her goal is to create a supportive and welcoming environment for kids in Annandale.

“I would love to have a weekly class that families and children can rely on for nurturing themselves,” White said. “I want to create a real steady home here in Annandale. I really like the location and people are starting to associate these classes with the area. I would love for that to continue.”

The Northern Virginia native teaches a two six-week series at Annandale Sport & Health on Mondays and Saturdays. The Monday classes are geared toward children ages eight and up and the Saturday classes for children three to eight.

White’s traditional children’s yoga class mixes music, dance and song to create a more energetic and dynamic atmosphere than found in the average adult yoga class. Her classes also include a creative arts ending during which the kids can choose from a variety of different colored tissue paper to take home with them in a container at the end of the series. Each child chooses the color that most represents how they feel at that moment.

“They’re using a really calm and centered place to have a meaningful closing to this class, which then is within them and just makes them more confident, happy children,” White said. “At the end of the series, they’ll get to take that container home and they have an actual memory that’s tangible of what their experience was like in the class - something about themselves.”

The most rewarding moments for White include noticing the children’s improvements and being a part of their “ah-hah” moments. “Not only do I meet each child at their level of readiness and meet their needs, but they’re very supportive and warm with each other which is a really important thing for peer support,” she said. “With this class, it could easily become a mixed abilities class and that would work fine.”

Esther Belenker’s son Josh is on the brink of completing his first six-week series with White. The 11-year-old yoga student has autism and other learning issues, including some balance and sensory processing problems, auditory processing problems and some anxiety. “While she teaches yoga for children, it is real yoga,” Belenker said of White’s class. “Some of the yoga exercises or positions are not always easy for Josh. However, he enjoys all the stretching, the movement, and the music, and he attempts all the positions and exercises. He has actually learned some positions and I can see progress in his achieving them in the short time since he started."

"I'm not a doctor, but it looks like Josh has more sensory awareness of himself and his body since he started, and certainly more control over his movements,” said Belenker. “I can see that he feels good about trying these motions, and Brigitta is extremely encouraging and praises every effort. She is completely non-judgmental and patient. She is always calm and she is always smiling.”

White uses aromatherapy and sprays to help the kids feel calm during their deep relaxation. She said her professional background has allowed her to consciously meet the needs of each child, including those with mixed abilities.

She received her master’s degree in Dance Movement Therapy from the Pratt Institute in New York City. After graduating from Pratt, she worked at Mount Sinai Hospital in inpatient psychiatry. “In dance movement therapy, it’s important to have a really strong clinical foundation and then after that you can really choose the population you want to work with and it’s so much easier to work with anyone,” she said. “For me it was a passion and a calling to work with infants, children and families.”

She later moved back to Northern Virginia and worked at the Children’s National Medical Center downtown. She was the first person to bring dance therapy to the center’s neonatal intensive care unit. Soon after, she became a children’s yoga teacher through the Radiant Child Yoga® program. “It fully closed the circle of what it is to use movement and now yoga in working with children,” she said. “I began to kind of integrate the two and then from there it was pretty much birthed the Whole Me! Programs.”

White said she feels very comfortable teaching children’s yoga and is enjoying the experience. “It’s really just a fun and loving class that is supportive for each and every child,” White said. “No matter what a parent’s concern may be or a goal they may have for their child, it is really easy to be met in this class.” 

White’s spring and summer sessions begin Saturday, Mar. 19. Full details are available here.

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